"down. It was Isaac Newton, with his invention of celestial dynamics and his law of gravitation, who finally explained the motions of the planets. Newton also developed the reflecting telescope. Improvements in the size and quality of the telescope led to further discoveries. The English astronomer John Flamsteed catalogued over 3000 stars, More extensive star catalogues were produced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. The astronomer William Herschel made a detailed catalog of nebulosity and clusters, and in 1781 discovered the planet Uranus, the first new planet found. The distance to a star was announced in 1838 when the parallax of"
"planet rather than a comet. Berlin astronomer Johann Elert Bode described Herschel's discovery as ""a moving star that can be deemed a hitherto unknown planet-like object circulating beyond the orbit of Saturn"". Bode concluded that its near-circular orbit was more like a planet than a comet. The object was soon universally accepted as a new planet. By 1783, Herschel acknowledged this to Royal Society president Joseph Banks: ""By the observation of the most eminent Astronomers in Europe it appears that the new star, which I had the honour of pointing out to them in March 1781, is a Primary Planet"
"September 20, 1783. NGC 1980 NGC 1980 (also known as OCL 529, Collinder 72 and The Lost Jewel of Orion) is a young open cluster associated with an emission nebula which is located in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by John Herschel on 31 November 1786. Its size is 14.00 by 14.0 arc minutes and is located around the star Iota Orionis on the southern tip of the Orion Constellation. Even though Herschel made his first observation of the cluster which was called WH V 31 on 31 November 1786, but he possibly observed it during his studies of"
"the ring to the refraction of sunlight, which he correctly hypothesized was caused by the atmosphere of Venus. Further evidence of Venus' atmosphere was gathered in observations by Johann Hieronymus Schröter in 1779. The planet also offered Alexis Claude de Clairaut an opportunity to work his considerable mathematical skills when he computed the mass of Venus through complex mathematical calculations. However, much astronomical work of the period becomes shadowed by one of the most dramatic scientific discoveries of the 18th century. On 13 March 1781, amateur astronomer William Herschel spotted a new planet with his powerful reflecting telescope. Initially identified"
"February 1800, and the planet Uranus in March 1781; he had made important improvements to the reflecting telescope by increasing the mirror diameter. Herschel then built a 20-ft reflecting telescope and invented the star count, working out that the Milky Way was a disc, which he called a ""grindstone"", and the Milky Way was a galaxy but that that was all the universe contained; he had noticed other nebulas but did not recognise what these were; only when the Hooker telescope was built sufficiently large-enough in California in 1924, did Edwin Hubble realise that these nebulas (Andromeda Galaxy) were other"
"assumed the motions which I ascribe to the Earth later on in the volume, by long and intense study I finally found that if the motions of the other planets are correlated with the orbiting of the earth..."" Galileo also asserts that Earth is a planet in the ""Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems"": ""[T]he Earth, no less than the moon or any other planet, is to be numbered among the natural bodies that move circularly."" In 1781, the astronomer William Herschel was searching the sky for elusive stellar parallaxes, when he observed what he termed a comet in"
"William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he at first named it ""Georgium Sidus"" (George's Star) after the King, who later funded the construction and maintenance of Herschel's 1785 40-foot telescope, which was the biggest ever built at the time. George III hoped that ""the tongue of malice may not paint my intentions in those colours she admires, nor the sycophant extoll me beyond what I deserve"", but in the popular mind George III has been both demonised and praised. While very popular at the start of his reign, by the mid-1770s George had lost the loyalty of revolutionary American colonists,"
"the missing planet predicted at about 2.8 AU from the Sun by the Titius-Bode law, partly because of the discovery, by Sir William Herschel in 1781, of the planet Uranus at the distance predicted by the law. This task required that hand-drawn sky charts be prepared for all stars in the zodiacal band down to an agreed-upon limit of faintness. On subsequent nights, the sky would be charted again and any moving object would, hopefully, be spotted. The expected motion of the missing planet was about 30 seconds of arc per hour, readily discernible by observers. The first object, Ceres,"
"NGC 1980 NGC 1980 (also known as OCL 529, Collinder 72 and The Lost Jewel of Orion) is a young open cluster associated with an emission nebula which is located in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by John Herschel on 31 November 1786. Its size is 14.00 by 14.0 arc minutes and is located around the star Iota Orionis on the southern tip of the Orion Constellation. Even though Herschel made his first observation of the cluster which was called WH V 31 on 31 November 1786, but he possibly observed it during his studies of double stars on"
"(discovered in August 1779 by William Herschel). There were once thought to be two more distant components—Polaris C and Polaris D—but these have been shown not to be physically associated with the Polaris system. Polaris Aa is a 5.4 solar mass () F7 yellow supergiant of spectral type Ib. This is the first classical Cepheid to have a mass determined from its orbit. The two smaller companions are Polaris B, a F3 main-sequence star orbiting at a distance of 2400 astronomical units (au), and Polaris Ab (or P), a very close F6 main-sequence star with an 18.8 au radius orbit"
"NGC 3081 NGC 3081 is a barred lenticular ring galaxy in the constellation of Hydra. NGC 3081 is located about 85 million light-years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 3081 is approximately 60,000 light years across. It is a type II Seyfert galaxy, characterised by its bright nucleus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 21 December 1786. NGC 3081 is seen nearly face-on. The galaxy's barred spiral centre is surrounded by a bright loop known as a resonance ring. This ring is full of bright clusters and bursts of new star formation, and frames"
"the pole. He observed that the size of the cap varied over time. The German-born British astronomer Sir William Herschel began making observations of the planet Mars in 1777, particularly of the planet's polar caps. In 1781, he noted that the south cap appeared ""extremely large"", which he ascribed to that pole being in darkness for the past twelve months. By 1784, the southern cap appeared much smaller, thereby suggesting that the caps vary with the planet's seasons and thus were made of ice. In 1781, he estimated the rotation period of Mars as 24 39 21.67 and measured the"
"NGC 513 NGC 513, also occasionally referred to as PGC 5174 or UGC 953, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda. It is located approximately 262 million light-years from the Solar System and was discovered on 13 September 1784 by astronomer William Herschel. Herschel discovered the object and simply noted ""stellar"". As of such, the galaxy was probably mistaken for a star. Herschel discovered this galaxy along with many other objects on a single observation, using Beta Andromedae as a reference star. The position noted is correct and off only by approximately 30"" from UGC 953, thus the objects"
"noteworthiness in themselves; but his greatest achievement was his detailed research of the planet Uranus, which had been discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781. Oriani devoted significant time to observations of Uranus, calculating its orbital properties, which he published as a booklet of tables in 1793. After others had shown that Uranus was not on a parabolic orbit but rather in a roughly circular orbit, he calculated the orbit in 1783. In 1789, Oriani improved his calculations by accounting for the gravitational effects of Jupiter and Saturn. In addition to his continual contributions to the ""Effemeridi"", he published a"
"was discovered to be a planet only in 1781 by Sir William Herschel. Astrological interpretations associate Uranus with the principles of ingenuity, new or unconventional ideas, individuality, discoveries, electricity, inventions, democracy, and revolutions. Uranus, among all planets, most governs genius. Uranus governs societies, clubs, and any group based on humanitarian or progressive ideals. Uranus, the planet of sudden and unexpected changes, rules freedom and originality. In society, it rules radical ideas and people, as well as revolutionary events that upset established structures. Uranus is also associated with Wednesday, alongside Mercury (since Uranus is in the higher octave of Mercury). In"
"and originally called it ""Georgium Sidus"" (George's Star) in honour of King George III of the United Kingdom. French astronomers began calling it Herschel before German Johann Bode proposed the name Uranus, after the Greek god. The name ""Uranus"" did not come into common usage until around 1850. Starting in 1801, asteroids were discovered between Mars and Jupiter. The first few (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta) were initially considered planets. As more and more were discovered, they were soon stripped of their planetary status. On the other hand, Pluto was considered to be a planet at the time of its discovery"
"Telescopium Herschelii Telescopium Herschelii (Latin for ""Herschel's telescope""), also formerly known as Tubus Hershelli Major, is a former constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. Maximilian Hell established it in 1789 to honour Sir William Herschel's discovery of the planet Uranus. It fell out of use by the end of the 19th century. Psi Aurigae at apparent magnitude 4.8 was the constellation's brightest star. It was one of two constellations created by Maximilian Hell in 1789 to honour the famous English astronomer Sir William Herschel's discovery of the planet Uranus. Named ""Tubus Hershelli Major"" by Hell, it was located in the"
"Saturn Nebula The Saturn Nebula or NGC 7009 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius. It appears as a greenish-yellowish hue in a small amateur telescope. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 7, 1782, using a telescope of his own design in the garden at his home in Datchet, England, and was one of his earliest discoveries in his sky survey. The nebula was originally a low-mass star that ejected its layers into space, forming the nebula. The central star is now a bright white dwarf star of apparent magnitude 11.5. The Saturn Nebula gets its name"
"set of legs. NGC 1981 NGC 1981 (also known as OCL 525) is an open cluster which is located in the Orion constellation. It was discovered by John Herschel on 4 January 1827. Its apparent magnitude is 4.2 and its size is 28.00 arc minutes. It lies to the north of the Orion Nebula, separated from it by the Sh2-279 region containing NGC 1973, 1975, and 1977. Some say it looks like an Alligator or Crocodile, Its eastern star as the snout, Its western star as its tail and the two groups of three stars in the middle of it"
"return again in 1758. When it reappears as expected, the comet is named in his honor. French astronomer Nicolas de Lacaille sails to southern oceans and begins work compiling a catalog of more than 10000 stars in the southern sky. Although Halley and others have observed from the Southern Hemisphere before, Lacaille's star catalog is the first comprehensive one of the southern sky. Amateur astronomer William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus, although he at first mistakes it for a comet. Uranus is the first planet to be discovered beyond Saturn, which was thought to be the most distant planet in"
"same cloud of galaxies with NGC 3223, NGC 3001, NGC 3078, NGC 3089, NGC 3100, NGC 3275, NGC 3281, NGC 3347 and NGC 3449. NGC 3081 NGC 3081 is a barred lenticular ring galaxy in the constellation of Hydra. NGC 3081 is located about 85 million light-years away from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, that NGC 3081 is approximately 60,000 light years across. It is a type II Seyfert galaxy, characterised by its bright nucleus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 21 December 1786. NGC 3081 is seen nearly face-on. The galaxy's barred spiral centre is surrounded"
"is also used in the way which ""Lunar"" or ""Jovian"" is for Earth's moon or Jupiter. The Latin convention derives from the use of that language as an international scientific language by the first modern astronomers like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others and was used for a long time. This is why the later discovered bodies were also named accordingly. At least two more bodies were discovered later, and called planets: These were given names from Greek or Roman myth, to match the ancient planet names—but only after some controversy. For example, Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781,"
"the vernal equinox was close to Aldebaran. English astronomer William Herschel discovered a faint companion to Aldebaran in 1782; an 11th magnitude star at an angular separation of 117″. This star was shown to be itself a close double star by S. W. Burnham in 1888, and he discovered an additional 14th magnitude companion at an angular separation of 31″. Follow on measurements of proper motion showed that Herschel's companion was diverging from Aldebaran, and hence they were not physically connected. However, the companion discovered by Burnham had almost exactly the same proper motion as Aldebaran, suggesting that the two"
"and so would be considered (dwarf) planets if they were in direct orbit about the Sun. The remaining moons were discovered after 1985, either during the ""Voyager 2"" flyby mission or with the aid of advanced Earth-based telescopes. The first two moons to be discovered were Titania and Oberon, which were spotted by Sir William Herschel on January 11, 1787, six years after he had discovered the planet itself. Later, Herschel thought he had discovered up to six moons (see below) and perhaps even a ring. For nearly 50 years, Herschel's instrument was the only one with which the moons"
"Heart Nebula The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. This is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the western edge) is separately classified as ""NGC 896"", because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered. The nebula's intense red output and its configuration are driven by the radiation emanating"
"Herschel (Mimantean crater) Herschel is a huge crater in the leading hemisphere of the Saturnian moon Mimas, on the equator at 100° longitude. It is named after the eighteenth century astronomer William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789. Herschel is the largest crater relative to its parent body of any equilibrium planetary moon in the Solar System. It is so large that astronomers have expressed surprise that Mimas was not shattered by the impact that caused it. It measures across, almost one third the diameter of Mimas. Its walls are approximately high, parts of its floor are deep, and its"
"NGC 1981 NGC 1981 (also known as OCL 525) is an open cluster which is located in the Orion constellation. It was discovered by John Herschel on 4 January 1827. Its apparent magnitude is 4.2 and its size is 28.00 arc minutes. It lies to the north of the Orion Nebula, separated from it by the Sh2-279 region containing NGC 1973, 1975, and 1977. Some say it looks like an Alligator or Crocodile, Its eastern star as the snout, Its western star as its tail and the two groups of three stars in the middle of it as its two"
"NGC 499 NGC 499, also occasionally referred to as PGC 5060, IC 1686 or GC 289, is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It located approximately 197 million light-years from the Solar System and was discovered on 12 September, 1784 by astronomer William Herschel. The NGC 499 Group is named after the galaxy. The object was discovered by Herschel along with NGC 495 and NGC 496. He initially described the discovery as ""Three [""NGC 499 along with NGC 495 and 496""], eS and F, forming a triangle."". As he observed the trio again the next night, he was able"
"universe. In 1764, Charles Messier cataloged Andromeda as object M31 and incorrectly credited Marius as the discoverer despite it being visible to the naked eye. In 1785, the astronomer William Herschel noted a faint reddish hue in the core region of Andromeda. He believed Andromeda to be the nearest of all the ""great nebulae"", and based on the color and magnitude of the nebula, he incorrectly guessed that it is no more than 2,000 times the distance of Sirius. In 1850, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, saw and made the first drawing of Andromeda's spiral structure. In 1864, William"
"NGC 681 NGC 681 (also known as the Little Sombrero Galaxy) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, located approximately 66.5 million light-years from Earth. The name Little Sombrero Galaxy is a reference to a much larger and earlier observed sombrero-like galaxy designated M104, or the Sombrero Galaxy. NGC 681 was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on 28 November 1785 and was later also observed by William's son, John Herschel. John Louis Emil Dreyer, compiler of the first ""New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars"", described NGC 681 as being a ""pretty"
"evolved, and magmatically differentiated planetesimal which was subsequently disrupted. Flora was discovered by J. R. Hind on October 18, 1847. It was his second asteroid discovery after 7 Iris. The name Flora was proposed by John Herschel, from Flora, the Latin goddess of flowers and gardens, wife of Zephyrus (the personification of the West wind), and mother of Spring. The Greek equivalent is Chloris, who has her own asteroid, 410 Chloris, but in Greek Flora is also called Chloris (8 Χλωρίς). Lightcurve analysis indicates that Flora's pole points towards ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (16°, 160°) with a 10° uncertainty."
"spiral pattern which is asymmetrical. NGC 681 NGC 681 (also known as the Little Sombrero Galaxy) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, located approximately 66.5 million light-years from Earth. The name Little Sombrero Galaxy is a reference to a much larger and earlier observed sombrero-like galaxy designated M104, or the Sombrero Galaxy. NGC 681 was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on 28 November 1785 and was later also observed by William's son, John Herschel. John Louis Emil Dreyer, compiler of the first ""New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars"", described NGC"
"starry heavens."" With her brother, she discovered over 2400 astronomical objects over twenty years. The asteroid 281 Lucretia (discovered 1888) was named after Caroline's second given name, and the crater C. Herschel on the Moon is named after her. Adrienne Rich's 1968 poem ""Planetarium"" celebrates Caroline Herschel's life and scientific achievements. The artwork ""The Dinner Party"", which celebrates historical women who have made extraordinary contributions, features a place setting for Caroline Herschel. Google honoured her with a Google Doodle on her 266th birthday (16 March 2016). Herschel was honoured by the King of Prussia and the Royal Astronomical Society. The"